App Review: Spotify for iPhone (UPDATED)

Spotify is a service which grants you access to a huge library of music, which is all available in the clouds of the internet. Cloud computing is the future, so they say. Spotify agrees and this app doesn’t do short from proving that point. As I really like Spotify’s desktop application, I figured it was time to cough up the 9.99 €/£ per month for premium membership to get this Spotify iOS application on my iDevice and test it’s brains out.

First Impression:
The look and feel of the app is excellent. It is obviously developed by a real pro. Everything is quick, smooth and has gorgeous animations which are combined with great stability. No clunky loading times or animation, but smooth as silk. It takes some time to get used to the app and it’s user interface as it’s not identical to the iPod app in iOS, which is both a blessing and a curse. The decision is up to you, but I’ve assembled a list of Pro’s and Cons to make it easier for you.

Pros and Cons

Pros:
– Great, quick, smooth and beautiful interface.
– Offline Playlists available to sync to you phone for offline playing.
– Integrates fantastically with accessories, like car kits and in car connectors.
– Airplay supported. (While there is no Airplay option on the desktop client at all, sup spotify?)
– Artwork beautifully displayed during playback.
– All Playlists from you desktop are available on your mobile device. Anywhere.

Cons:
– No adding to queue feature like on the desktop client. (just playlists) (!Solved in latest update!)
– Premium needed, costs 9.99 €/£ per month, does not work with Open or Unlimited.
– Not all music available in Spotify itself.
– No iPad version available. (as of now)

Additional Opinion:
Even though some essential features like queue’s are missing(!Solved in latest update!), the Spotify iOS client is no reason to pass on Spotify premium membership. The music does not suffer on any buffering on 3G but keep in mind, no Wi-Fi or 3G equals no music unless this music is made available offline beforehand. This is as good as it will/can get though! Spending 9.99 €/£ per month for almost all music available to you anywhere is definitely worth it. The only problem for Spotify is the fact that it’s still a big step for a lot of average consumers to take. The option for a trial usage of the Spotify iOS app would definitely encourage Spotify’s user base to take the step to upgrade to premium as it’s just a shot in the dark until you’ve seen it perform for yourself. (!Solved in latest update!)

Hope this helped you make your decision. Let me know what you decided and why.

(!Solved in latest update!)* Updated this Review upon the latest updates added by Spotify.